Monday, January 29, 2007

Vandalism

This morning about 10 of the eyes were ripped off the trunk and lovingly placed on the windows of the car. I’m sure this will be the first of many times I will have to redo work on the car because someone decides they want to mess with the eyes.

I’m sure if I lived at a house with a garage, things might be different – the car wouldn’t be such a temptation. But I felt sure that if I kept waiting for the perfect conditions, I would never actually do it. I’m going to try parking in a place not so close to the sidewalk from now on to see if that stops the vandalism (at least until I’ve got more than 1/5 of the car done.)

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Trunk day two

I couldn't do much today because I couldn't find any eyes that weren't all black to keep the ratio the same as the rest of the trunk. I spent maybe 10 minutes gluing today.

more eyes

I'm going to need a few more small eyes to finish the trunk top.

102 10mm
96 12mm
72 15mm oval
30 20 mm oval
18 15mm wink
24 15mm multi-color
96 15mm

Total eyes this entry: 438

Total eyes for project: 2,684

Saturday, January 27, 2007

First day's work







Below is after two hours of work. It's almost exactly half the top of the trunk done.


Below is when the 2.8 oz of glue ran out.


Below is where I stopped for the day. It was a total of 4 hours actually gluing.

The trunk

I started at 9:30 a.m. I worked for two hours then took a break because I was getting a little sloppy and I could see I would need more glue to finish the top of the trunk. I worked two more hours after returning from this trip.

I purchased a different type of glue bottle and it was harder to use. I ended up using a lot more glue with this type of bottle. Also when I switched glue, I started putting things closer together. The wind was really blowing so that made me work closer in and a lot of the medium size eyes were used early on so it was mostly 12mm or less left ... these two things may have also contributed to the closer gluing.

I ran out of little eyes with more than 3/4 of the car done and went to get more. I think because of the closer gluing, I still didn’t finish the top of the trunk. I had estimated that I had enough to complete this part of the car today (and I guess I could have but it would have been just big eyes and since I started out with mostly little/medium on the trunk I want to keep it that way). I made those estimates with the full order from the bulk place, but I think I really did still have enough. It’s just that early on I wasn’t putting enough of the 40mm eyes on and the closer gluing also impacted my project.

Lessons:
Only work for two hours at a time.
Use glue with a little spigot to control the flow.
Mix-in more big eyes.

Bulk eyes

Got some eyes from a mail order bulk seller. They did not send me every thing I paid for, but said they would send me the rest and a free packet of eyes to make up for the mistake.
Here's what I got:
1000 12 mm
10 40 mm
10 35 mm
40 28 mm
40 30 mm
125 black variety pack 10 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm, and 20 mm
125 multi-colored variety pack 10 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm, and 20 mm
125 painted variety pack 10 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm, and 20 mm
125 bright color variety pack 10 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm, and 20 mm

Total eyes this entry: 1,600

Total eyes for project: 2,246

Friday, January 26, 2007

A few more for the test

10 eyes on the passenger side mirror. I really wanted to do more, but I want to make sure it works first. If all of these eyes are still there when the rain clears tomorrow, I will be a gluing machine for the entire weekend.

Goodbye Ford

10 eyes on the Ford logo on the front of the car




7 eyes on the Ford logo on the trunk of the car

The Fist Eye

I put too much glue on, so the eye is slipping a bit. I randomly picked the pink wink eye, but I like that it gets the honor of being No. 1.

Testing

I looked at several web sites to find tips on art car gluing. A lot of the suggested glues require you to put a little on both pieces let them sit for 5 minutes and then place them together for a firm hold. I can’t imagine spending 5 minutes between each of these eyes, so I’m not using that type of glue.

I’m going with a silicone glue, but I don’t want to buy a lot of something that won’t work. This evening I got a 2.8 oz tube of a silicone glue and am doing a little test. Weather reports say it’s going to rain tomorrow morning and then get clear in the afternoon. I put a few eyes (27 total) on the car to see how it will hold up to the weather.

eyes

Exploiting the Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon, while I still have the chance, so I can get as many of the big eyes as possible. The coupon expires on Saturday.

16 40 mm
16 40 mm
16 40 mm
16 40 mm

Total eyes this entry: 64

Total eyes for project: 646

Thursday, January 25, 2007

more eyes

Hobby Lobby discount coupon and clearance

16 40 mm
16 40 mm
6 15mm multi-color oval
6 15mm multi-color oval
6 15mm multi-color oval
4 19 mm blue wink eyes
4 19 mm blue wink eyes
4 19 mm blue wink eyes
4 19 mm pink wink eyes
4 19 mm pink wink eyes
4 19 mm pink wink eyes

Total eyes this entry: 74

Total eyes for project: 582

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Googly eyes

I'm trying to find the cheapest way to get eyes since I don't have unlimited amounts of money to put into this project. Most purchases will be via bulk suppliers. Thanks to a couple of tips, I learned about Hobby Lobby's internet coupon and Joann's store closing sale.

Here are my first eye purchases:
102 10mm
96 12mm
72 15mm oval
30 20 mm oval
16 40mm
192 15mm

Total eyes this entry: 508

Total eyes for project: 508

Monday, January 22, 2007

The Car

I have a red 2001 Ford Escort. I've never loved this car. It was bought out of necessity after the first car that I personally bought and loved was totaled in a wreck. The “red car” as it is called is fine. It drives OK. It looks all right. I pass at least two other cars just like it every day. I did some measurements and, if my math is right (which it likely isn’t) there is about 25,000 square inches of non-window surface space to cover.

Googly-eyed Car

I've wanted a car that didn't look normal all my life. Not sure how it started, but when I was a kid, I dreamed of having a black VW Bug that I would cover with various color handprints. That never worked out.

About a year ago, I lucked into a bunch of clip art. After covering a dresser with it, I began to dream of covering a car in these outdated images of cheerleaders and businessmen. I couldn't figure out a way that wouldn't cost me too much money to make the paper water proof. As I spent month after month pondering the problem, I became more and more convinced that this would be a thing that I would dream of and never do. As 2007, began I decided to give up on the clip art car for now.

At the same time I was mentally working on another art project. I was planning to get a bunch of googly/wiggly eyes and put them on one of those spinning things that you use to decorate cakes. The idea was that it would hang on the wall and you would spin it to make all the eyes move. I had been looking for months for a used one at thrift stores (I enjoy the hunt), but hadn’t found one yet.

Then I realized that maybe I could combine the two projects and the googly-eyed car was born.